Friday, December 18, 2015

Year in Review 2015: Travel By The Numbers

2015 isn’t
quite over yet, and I’m not quite done traveling but in my last few days of
blogging this year I thought it would be nice to do a bit of a “round-up” of
all of my traveling. This morning I found a nifty website that allows me to put
pins into a digital map. After playing around a bit I was amazed at just how
many places I have been to, both in and outside of the United States.

United States- I always say that I need to travel more
within my own country, it’s so big and there’s so much to see. I did better
this year, though my time was exclusively spent on the East coast. I need to
get out west man! Montana is on my bucket list for 2016, we’ll see how that
goes.

Northeast-

Home- aka Berkshire County, though I spend
less and less time here every year, I still love coming home and really
appreciate it the longer I’m away. I spent time in January, March (the worst
spring break ever-not because I was home but because my school closed…), May,
and August in the Berks. I was usually working but I still had time to enjoy
the area.

New York/Boston- While I’ve loved visiting these
cities in the past, in 2015 they were used exclusively for their airports.

Misquamicut- Spent a day at the beach with mom
and Hannah the day after I got home from camp and I didn’t get sunburned
(YAY…considering last time).

Hartford- I’ve become very familiar with
Trinity College in Hartford over the past couple of years thanks to my
frequent-as-possible visits to Jess.

Virginia-

Sweet Briar/Lynchburg-
I of course spent
plenty of time at SBC this spring as that is where I go to school.

Charlottesville- I always say I should go to C-ville
more, but this spring I was there for Foxfield and a few Sunday drives

Farmville- Because…yeah.

Washington DC- I know this isn’t technically
Virginia but I didn’t want to make a whole separate category. I drove 10 hours
each way to DC to hand in paperwork for my visa in July. I stayed overnight
with a friend but was in the consulate FOR FOUR MINUTES.

The rest of the Southeast-

Hendersonville, NC
(and surrounding small towns) - I spent ten glorious weeks working at Camp Ton-A-Wandah this summer
(minus the part where I had to drive up to DC). It was amazing to say the least.

Asheville, NC- I love Asheville. I first went
there in March to run a half-marathon at the Biltmore estate and then spent
several nights off there during the summer. It’s what I like to call
“hippietown USA” and I LOVE it.

Charleston, SC- I got to spend about a week with
my friends down in Charleston after finals, before graduation. It was a blast
and can be summarized by “sunburns and Kraminsky’s”. I can’t wait to go back,
the city was beautiful!

International- So obviously I’m abroad now and this past semester
has been a whirlwind of European traveling though I do consider myself to
“live” in Sevilla right now as opposed to visiting, which is super cool.
Actually, Sevilla is the place I’ve lived the longest this year being here over
15 weeks already.

Burkina Faso- Let’s not forget why I stated this
blog! At the very beginning of this year I spent about two weeks in Yako,
Burkina Faso. Though it was sometimes very hard, I loved it and it has been
calling my name ever since. Look for a super exciting post about a beautiful
little girl I worked with there very soon!

Spain-

Sevilla- My beautiful home. I have absolutely
fallen in love with Sevilla. Though I’d never call myself a city girl, Sevilla
really is the perfect size for me. It’s taken a bit of adjusting but I’ve
really come to love the Spanish way of life.

Madrid- I’ve been up to Madrid several times
this year, usually I’m just passing through but I’ve also had time to enjoy the
city and it’s slowly growing on me.
La Latina is my favorite neighborhood by far including this marvelous vintage
store called “Remember”. It also has its fair share of free museums and
exhibitions including a printing press museum. Oh, and the coolest feminist
bookshop.

Cádiz- At the end of orientation we spent
a day in this historical and beach-y city. It was cool but not overwhelmingly
so.

Córdoba- My favorite part of Cordoba was
walking around the old Jewish Quarter. It was beautiful and had some amazing
artisan shops.

Ronda- A geographically cool city, Ronda
is built on the side of cliffs and is surrounded by mountains. I probably would
have like it more if it didn’t rain the entire time we had free time.

Granada- Granada was beautiful and though I
had seen it before, the Alhambra was amazing. This time I was really taken by
the mountains, we had an amazing view from the top of a fortress. I could have
stared at them all day. I also bought a pair of fair trade boots from Colombia
and have worn them pretty much every day since.

The rest of Europe- I have written extensive posts on all of
these so I’ll keep them short and sweet.

Lisbon/Sintra,
Portugal (Trip Post)- This was
my first trip outside of Spain and I fell in love with Lisbon. Oh and Sintra
was a magical fairytale land.

Amsterdam (Trip Post)- I still have mixed feelings about
this trip, but in general I learned a lot, ate yummy food, and took some
amazing pictures

Dublin (Trip Post)- I could see myself living/working in
Dublin. The energy of the city is great and I felt so at home. Also visiting
friends is a plus.

Athens/Aegina (Trip Post)- I spent my birthday in Greece and it was magical. The food was great,
the landscape was breathtaking, I met new people, and had a blast in general.

Travel by the numbers

Countries: 7

States (not counting ones I’ve driven through):
7

Cities (“home” is one): 27

Planes (not counting layovers): 9

Trains: 9

Boats/Ferries (not counting return trips): 2

Buses: Too many

Budget Breakdown

You might
not know this, or maybe you do, but I’m really cheap. I hate spending money and
save in every way I can. Since I’ve been abroad I’ve kept an extremely detailed
weekly budget. One of the things that has always been frustrating to me is that
people who travel extensively seem to have unlimited, or at least very flexible
budgets. Studying abroad hasn’t been cheap (well actually it’s much cheaper
than me being at school) and neither has traveling, but I’m pretty proud of how
much I’ve spent compared to how much I’ve done. I thought it might be helpful
to share what my budget looked like this semester as far as traveling.

The total I
spent from my travel budget was 1,078 euros (~$1,170). I had a weekly budget
and on occasion I used any left over money from the week to supplement my trip
budget. This totaled about 40 or so euros over the course of the entire
semester. How does this look broken down?

Lisbon- 200 euros – this payed for a bus, a
two night stay in an amazing hostel, food, transportation within the city, a
walking tour, admission into several sites including castles and museums,
postcards, and a few souvenirs.

Amsterdam – 317 euros – this included a
(pricey-er) direct from Sevilla flight, transportation to and from the various
airports, food, bike rentals, left luggage, and a few gifts. I did couchsurfing
to avoid paying for accommodation and stocked up on bread, peanut butter, and
fruit at a grocery store to cut down on costs. I also skipped the big
(expensive) museums in favor of smaller (free) ones that were more off the
beaten path.

Dublin – 211 euros (with a bit extra from
my weekly budget) – this covered a bus to/from Madrid, my flight Madrid to
Dublin, to/from airport transportation in Dublin, food, entrance to St.
Patrick’s Cathedral, a CD from a band on the street, and beer. I stayed with a
friend (Hey Chris!) to avoid paying for accommodation and we walked everywhere,
even though it was a solid three mile hike into the center of the city.

Greece – 350 euros – I’m not going to lie, I
got a solid amount of free stuff because it was my birthday, but the 350 euros
covered the bus to Madrid, my flight to/from Athens, the AVE (having to buy
this at 65 euros made me cringe but I was not waiting 12 hours to take the bus
home, plus I love the AVE) from Madrid to Sevilla, food, gifts, the ferry
to/from Aegina, and to/from airport/train station transportation. I again
stayed with a friend (Thanks Matt!) to cut down on accommodation, are you
seeing a trend in my traveling strategy? I also got in free to every historical
site which was awesome.

As you can
see, weekend trips don’t need to cost more than a few hundred euros. Like I
said, I don’t like spending money so I found ways to cut costs, like staying
with friends (which is more fun anyways) or taking a 6 hour night bus to
Madrid. My travel style helps; for the most part I’m not interested in big
tourist attractions. I usually skip them in favor of smaller more off the
beaten path ones. For example, I skipped out on the Rijiksmuseum in Amsterdam
(about 20 euros) and instead went to the Collier’s Diamond Museum, Royal Delft
Experience, sampled cheese at a cheese store and Bloemenmarkt, all for free. Sure
they don’t have world famous art, but I’ve been to numerous art museums for
free, like the Gulbenkianin in Lisbon and ones paid for by my program like the Prado and
Reina Sofia. Also, important to note: I like to drink as much as the next
college student, and tend to have a bit of an expensive taste. When I’m
traveling, I rarely drink and this cuts down significantly on costs. When I do
go out, of course I have a glass of wine or beer with a meal but since I’m not
into partying/clubbing/any of that I save a lot. I’ve seen people spend on one
night out what I spend in a whole day. Also, do yourself a favor and bring your
own food to the airport. A breakfast that costs 6 euros at the airport costs
2,1 here in Sevilla. At the same Café.

I’ve been
extremely lucky that my program pays for various trips around Spain. Now, I
know that technically we are paying
for the trips ahead of time, but because JYS is a Sweet Briar program I had
most of my scholarships applied no problem in addition to an extra JYS
scholarship, so I personally am not actually paying much at all to be here
(again, blessed, one hundred million times blessed). I have had the opportunity
to travel all over Andalucía- Cádiz, Córdoba, Ronda, and Granada as well as
Madrid.

Looking
back at the year, my trip to Burkina was 100% funded by the honors program at
my school.

All of that
being said, studying abroad is a financial commitment and I spent a lot of time
working over the past couple of years to be able to enjoy it, including two
jobs at SBC this spring in addition to babysitting in Amherst, working all
summer at camp and then at both the Brien Center (a mental health organization)
and the restaurant at Jacob’s Pillow when I was home in May/August (usually
double days and a few overnight shifts). I have also recently started tutoring
here in Sevilla. I have found it super helpful to keep a detailed record of
everything that I buy and also interesting. For example I’ve bought 74 cups of
coffee here in Sevilla so far. You can also see the dramatic increase in coffee
between my first week and this week.

I can tell
you that my January trip involves a much bigger budget, but I’m also traveling
for a full month, not just a weekend. I know that I’ll be taking advantage of
markets/supermarkets, which are actually super fun in foreign countries. I’m
also staying in hostels, and even one hotel room but I’ve saved for this trip
all summer so I’m beyond excited.

Well there
you have it, a pretty comprehensive (I think) breakdown of my travel both over
the past year and this semester. I can’t wait to see what 2016 brings!